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NC Saxena, Food Commissioner appointed by the SC in the Right to Food case interviewed by Sreelatha Menon
-The Business Standard


The mid-day meal scheme cannot be blamed for the Chapra incident. It is a question of professionalising the administration and everyone doing his duty. N C Saxena, Food Commissioner appointed by the Supreme Court in the Right to Food case tells Sreelatha Menon.Edited excerpts:

* Can the mid-day meal tragedy in Chapra be blamed on the decision to have separate kitchens for each school without a monitoring mechanism?

The monitoring mechanism is the joint responsibility of the Centre and States and unfortunately, it is very weak to the point of being defunct. School authorities are not doing their job as far as monitoring is concerned. They are a law unto themselves. Government schools are marred by high indiscipline, teacher absenteeism, and corruption. It is not something we can improve by passing a law or through a court order. It is a question of professionalising administration, everyone doing their duty. Here, teachers don't do their duty, there is no discipline. Teachers complain that they have paid huge bribes for their recruitment which they must recover by hook or by crook. All are concerned only about making money, and keeping their posts intact through political contacts.

* Do you think that centralised kitchens would have been better?

Who will cook in the centralised kitchens? Why would centralised kitchens bother? Who would control them? This will also centralise corruption. There has to be local participation and supervision through parents and school management committees. In some schools one of the mothers is appointed as a cook, but she has no control over the quality and quantity of raw material. It is a known fact that quality of food served is bad in the scheme, besides being insufficient. The only saving grace is that food is cooked which destroys bacteria. Indians are used to unhygienic surroundings and have developed immunity to contamination to some extent. If not for this, 90 per cent of children would fall sick all over the country.

* Aren't conditional cash transfers to children's account also an option to ensure that kids came to school and also got nutrition? Could this have been explored in schools which can't run food schemes?

If cash can be a substitute because the scheme does not work, then wind up all the schemes. The fathers would use the cash to buy liquor. How would it help the children? Cash transfers cannot help improve nutrition of children. That was the realisation that led to the demand for cooked mid-day meals. It makes no sense to ignore that.

* Cash can be ruled out. But what if cash coupons that fetch specific food items like eggs, milk and fruits are given to children in place of the mid-day meals?

Coupons could be sold at liquor shops, too. There is no guarantee again that the children would get food in exchange for those coupons. This is a defeatist approach of discarding a scheme because of an error in execution. You can't wind up all schemes because something goes wrong. Wind up the whole government also then. The present tragedy amply proves governance deficit that requires cross-sectoral solutions outside the scheme.

* There was a phase in many schools when dry rations were given. Wasn't it better?

Dry rations were given before 2003. But it did not reach every child so a case was made out for mid-day meals. The dry rations were not going to the child's stomach. The child can't concentrate on studies as he or she is hungry. There are 600,000 schools and a single incident does not mean everything should be stopped. Tomorrow you will say wind up the police, if the police runs amok in one place and fires on a peaceful mob. One cannot throw out the baby with the bath water.

* You were made the food commissioner by the Supreme Court in the Right to Food case. How informed was the Supreme Court when it made it mandatory for all the schools to serve hot cooked meals in 2003? Does the order talk about daily monitoring?

The government is run by the state. You can't expect the Supreme Court to send a monitoring team to every school. However, we gave many reports on the aspect of cleanliness and safety. The court also passed many orders regarding this. But these have to be implemented. Passing any order does not change the behaviour of school authorities in Chapra, unless their supervisors are committed to performing their duties. The orders are for people who understand their duty. Here everyone is busy making money. But the alternative is not to wind up all government schools and establishments and let mafias rule the country.

* The Right to Food campaign began the demand for mid-day meals in schools with a petition in the courts. But did any of activists ever raise an issue about the sorry circumstances in which the food was being cooked? Aren't they and the media guilty of silence on the lurking danger in the scheme?

How can the civil society do the government's job? It is the government's job to monitor its schemes. I am not part of the Right to Food movement. But there are many non-governmental organisations (NGOs) which have raised this issue. They may have written to state governments, too, from time to time, pointing out cases of poor implementation or poor quality of food. What more can the NGOs do?

* When it is humanly impossible to monitor so many schools for safety of the food given, why have it at all? How do you think the scheme can be revisited now?

If there are 600,000 schools there are 1.5 million teachers and 40,000 supervisors. But no one is doing their job. Teachers are not teaching for that matter. Why Chapra, even in Delhi on any particular day 50 to 70 per cent teachers are not in the classrooms. As for revisiting the scheme, it is a question of improving the oversight. It has to be done by all in the chain. There is no magic solution available. You can't just say that replace food with cash and everything will be fine. Nor can you say replace it with ready to eat food and expect all to be well.

* The same issues can be raised about the integrated child development services (ICDS) for pre school children, which also gives hot cooked meals. Should we be prepared for a tragedy there, too?

Many states are giving ready to eat mixtures in ICDS. There, contractors are running the show. They bribe the ministers and give only 100 calories in place of the norm of 500 calories. An evaluation by the National Human Rights Commission in Uttar Pradesh showed that two-third of ready-to-eat food ends up as cattle feed, and the rest is used for making vegetables. Children do not eat it. Do you want private contractors to run the nation? I once again repeat that a single incident cannot be used to judge the entire scheme and the purpose it serves.

The Business Standard, 20 July, 2013, http://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/mid-day-m
eal-monitoring-is-almost-defunct-n-c-saxena-113072000756_1
.html

Image Courtesy: The Business Standard